Erbium
Name: Erbium
Symbol: Er
Atomic Number: 68
Mass fraction of the earth’s shell: 2 x 10 -4
Melting Point: 1522 °C
Boiling Point: 2510 °C
Electrical Conductivity: 1,16 x 106 A·V−1·m−1
Name: Erbium
Symbol: Er
Atomic Number: 68
Mass fraction of the earth’s shell: 2 x 10 -4
Melting Point: 1522 °C
Boiling Point: 2510 °C
Electrical Conductivity: 1,16 x 106 A·V−1·m−1
HISTORY
The Swedish chemist Mosander had a good nose for new discoveries in the century before last. He proved this in 1843 when he separated three new earths from the ytter earth. One of them he named erbium.
Like ytterbium, terbium and yttrium, the name is derived from the Ytterby mine near Stockholm. Metallic erbium was first produced, or isolated, by the German chemist Karl Andreas Hoffmann in 1934.
CHARACTERISTICS & EXTRACTION
Erbium is a rather base, electropositive, and very reactive metal that tarnishes quickly in air. In humid air, an oxide film forms very quickly. It dissolves slowly in cold water, but very quickly in hot water. In nature, erbium is usually found together with other rare earth metals in minerals such as monazite sand, bastnäsite, or gadolinite.
The production process is complex: after enrichment of the ores and digestion with sulphuric acid, it is precipitated as oxalate and converted into oxide, trifluoride, and trichloride. Afterwards, the metal is extracted metallothermally.
Erbium is mainly used for titanium alloys in metallurgy, for colouring glasses and enamels, and the production of infrared-absorbing special glasses. This absorption talent is also evident in hydrogen. That is why erbium is used as a hydrogen storage medium. Erbium additives colour glasses pink. Erbium is also used for doping laser crystals in solid-state lasers.
